Why?: Samsung could grow so popular with consumers, that it could
eventually re-write Android's code in an entirely customized way,
and stop calling it Android altogether.

The report said Rubin told a room full of Google executives that
Google-owned phone-maker Motorola
was a hedge against Samsung growing too powerful.

Rubin's comments indicated a view of Android as something to
preserve and protect.

Our source believes that Larry Page isn't nearly so worried about
Android itself. This source says that Page views it as a means to
an end.

He says Page views Google
as "a cloud services
company," built on cornerstone products like Search, Maps, Mail,
and YouTube.

He says Page views Android as a
way for Google to partner with hardware-makers to make these
services more available to consumers.

As a side benefit, Android has
made it so that the world of smartphones is not dominated by a
single player: Apple.

In this context, the promotion of Pichai makes more sense.

Pichai established himself at Google running the team that
convinced computer-makers to pre-install the Google Toolbar.

Our source says that at the
highest levels of Google, it is believed that Pichai's success
establishing those partnerships played a crucial role in exposing
Google search to consumers, and making it a part of their daily
routine.

Now, according to this speculation, Page is asking Pichai to pull
off the same trick again: Make new Google services a part of
consumers' daily lives by having hardware-makers install software
access points to those services.

If those "software access points" are called Android, fine.

If they are called Samsung OS; that's fine too.

But what about Motorola?

Some people say that Google bought Motorola in order to copy
Apple's business model.

If that were true, that would contradict the theory that Android
is just a means to an end for Page.

But our speculating ex-Googler has a good answer for this. He
notes that Page didn't put an executive with product-building
experience in charge of Motorola; he gave the gig to Dennis
Woodside, a former McKinsey consultant from Google's sales
organization.